


A Hatchling's Wide Eyes

by Ice_Cold_Orchid



Category: Dungeon Moment Expanded Universe
Genre: Gen, Past life, Wholesome, dungeon moment expanded universe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ice_Cold_Orchid/pseuds/Ice_Cold_Orchid
Summary: Sad attempt at a cute short moment in baby Twang's life.
Kudos: 3





	A Hatchling's Wide Eyes

“MEW… Get down here... right now… this instant young man!”  
Mew was in trouble. He could tell by Clink’s voices. He almost never used the loud kitty shout and the ‘young man’ sealed the deal. Reluctantly, he slid down the rooftop towards the nearby awning. Here he paused, taking one more longing look towards the stadium at the edge of the street, kicking his legs back and forth in the air.  
One of his back talons connected with something soft. Blinking, he looked down between his legs at the street below to see he had accidentally knocked the hat off a passing orc. A rather angry looking orc. Huh… Was he angry because his hat was kicked off?  
“Mrooooooooew…” Uh oh. That voice. The loud kitty screech. The kenku lifted his legs up on top of the awning and huddled in a ball as the orc below started shouting angrily. The fledgling dared to peak one yellow eye over the side of the awning to see the hatless orc man shaking their fist angrily up at him.  
Creak  
Creak  
Foomp  
A firm feathered arm wrapped itself under the young kenku’s arms, around his chest, and yanked him roughly towards the top of the roof as an ax slices cleanly through the awning’s canvas covering near where the youngster had been sitting.  
Uh oh. That could have been him!  
Thank goodness for close saves and Clink. The look on Clink’s face as he carried the fledgling spoke more clearly of how much trouble the youngster was in than any borrowed vocabulary ever could.  
The stadium was gone, obscured by blunt Ynaziii structures. Angry shouts of the orc faded as Clink hauled Mew over the arch of the next roof and dropped down to the empty alleyway below. The one with the gated septic tunnels. The entrance to Murder home.  
Mew’s heart dropped. His beak clicked, and he fidgeted with his fingers as the older kenku looked down on him with narrowed eyes.  
“Why did you… do that…”  
Should he tell the truth? Should he say he slipped away from his mentor’s boring lessons that weren’t really lessons? Truly, they were just meetings with Boss about numbers and death counts and profits. Mew knew how to count and the basics of the conversations by now, but half the time Boss said he was stupid and unnecessary. Clink let him play under the table. Why couldn’t he play outside? Why couldn’t he go out and see the others from the Nest? Or listen to the cheers coming from the stadium? It’s not like he could even see the match…  
Of course, Mew didn’t say any of this. For multiple reasons. The most dominant of which being he didn’t have the words to do so. Clink had no issue talking, but the older kenku preferred conversing in sounds.  
What mew did do, was point back towards the rooftops, in the direction he had last been looking before the unfortunate orc incident. Clink’s beak followed where Mew’s finger pointed, then flitted back so he could stare directly at the fledgling with a quizzical look.  
Mew opened his beak and let the faint sound of the crowd cheering drift between the two of them. Then he took a kick at the dirt road with his toes, in a motion he had practiced in his free time alone so many times before. The dribble one would use to pass a syiike. Then he shrugged, letting his shoulders raise and his head droop. He had ditched his lessons to go stare at the syiikeslem stadium near the center of the city.  
The older kenku rubbed his bottom beak like a philosopher would rub his chin. There was understanding in his eyes, but surely he was thinking of a fitting punishment. Mew was certain of it.  
After a heartbeat or two, Clink snapped his fingers, bringing his hand down in a fluid motion. Lifting the other hand, he beckoned with his pointer finger. He turned and walked away from the grate leading home. He did not look back to make sure his charge was following. At least, not from what Mew could see. Mew stepped into place behind the older bird, somewhat to the left. His hand reached out to grasp one of his mentor’s tail feathers. ‘To... not get lost...,’ his mentor had said originally. Surely he didn’t need to do so now, but it was a habit the fledgling had quickly grown fond of.  
Mew followed his mentor solemnly, resigned to his fate. And he followed. Down twisting dirt paths, through the shadiest parts of town near the Nest’s entrance until it faded to the residential areas for the common folk of the capital. And then… to the wall of the stadium itself?  
Confused, Mew released Clink’s tail to run in front of the older kenku. He pointed up at the towering walls with both hands and shrugging. Clink clearly understood the child’s confusion, but said nothing in explanations.  
Rather, Clink picked up the youngster and lifted him onto his shoulders, much to Mew’s surprise. This was so foreign and strange… Clink had never let him sit on his shoulders before… Mew let out a confused rattle, but Clink only shushed him with a swipe of his hand.  
The older kenku held tight to the fledgling’s ankles to keep him from falling as he silently slipped into a ventilation grating around the back.  
At this point, Mew was gripping his mentor’s shoulders, too confused to know what to do. The path his mentor took was dark and dank. He couldn’t see a foot in front of him until…  
He could see everything! The players out on the field. The audience standing up from their seats to jeer as a player takes a laser to the leg. The scoreboard lit with glowing magic numbers.  
He could see it all from here on Clink’s shoulders. They were under the stadium seats, looking out from between ankles and feet and falling snacks excited fans unknowingly dropped on their heads. Mew looked down to give his mentor a bewildered look. The older kenku chittered kindly, his crooked beak cracking open in the avian equivalent of a smile.  
He mimicked the sound of the cheering crowd. “Let’s enjoy… ourselves… Worry about that… Orc… and… lessons later…”  
____________________________________________


End file.
